OLD AUCKLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23266, 8 February 1939, Page 15

OLD AUCKLAND

SKETCHES FOE CITY COLLECTION PURCHASED \ WORK OF BISHOP'S WIFE A collection of 35 water-colour sketches and drawings, executed mostly in the neighbourhood of Auckland between 1845 and 1854, has been purchased by the Auckland Citj' Council for the Art Gallery. Twenty-two of the sketches are the work of Mrs. Abraham, wife of the Rt. Rev, C. J. Abraham, first Bishop of Wellington, and the remaining 13 are by the Rev. T. B. Hutton, who was a student and tutor at St. John's College from 1845 to 1849.

The collection has been acquired from Mr. R. S. Abraham, of Palmerston North, founder of the firm of Abraham and Williams, Limited, and a nephew of Bishop jr and Mrs. Abraham. The proceeds of the transaction are to be given to the Wellington Cathedral building fund. Old Maori Fortifications The sketches are of both historical and personal interest. Those by Mrs. Abraham represent for the most part open landscapes and scenes in and around Auckland Harbour. One gives a good idea of St. George's Bay in 1852, with only a single house visible on the skyline. Another, undated, shows Official Bay with the Wynyard Pier and old St. Paul's Church.

The ruins of the original stone chapel built In Judge's Bay by Bishop Selwyn appear in another sketch dated J. 852. This building, which seems to have been faultily constructed, was wrecked by a gale and the present St. Stephen's Chapel was erected in its place. Mr. Hutton's sketches, though of less artistic merit, are more informative. Two show buildings at St. John's College and Purewa in 1854, and two pencil drawings, made the same year, are of a palisaded pa at Rangaunu, near Mangonui, and the ruins of Heke's pa at Ohaeawai. Drawings Found In England

Mrs. Abraham came to New Zealand in 1850 with her husband, an old colleague of Bishop Selwyn at Eton, whom the bishop had invited to assist him at St. John's College. Mr. Abraham was later made an archdeacon, and in 1858 was consecrated at Lambeth as first Bishop of Wellington. He resigned in 1870 and returned to Engacting for a number of years as coadjutor to Selwyn in the diocese of Lichfield. The drawings were discovered not very long ago among the family possessions by Bishop Abraham's only son, the Rt. Rev. C. T. Abraham, who was Bishop-suffragan of Derby from 1909 to 1927, and who is now living in retirement in England. The bishop sold some of them in London for the benefit of the Melanesian Mission, and forwarded the remainder to his cousin, Mr. R. S. Abraham, in New Zealand. It is a point of some interest that a grandson of the first Bishop Abraham, the Rt. Rev. P. S. Abraham, is Bishopcoadiutor of Newfoundland, making the third generation in the episcopate.

Other Collections The Art Gallerv now possesses a large number of sketches of early Auckland. A collection of nearly 100 by the Rev. Dr. John Kinder was presented not long ago by Mr. Harry Kinder, of Remuera, and several of unusual interest, made in 1843 by Edward Ashworth, were purchased in London by Sir Cecil Levs in 1935 and given by him to the city. The new acquisitions will probably be on view in the gallery With the pictures Mr. Abraham has handed to the council two Maori relics, a taiaha and a niat, which form* erly belonged to the bishop. The mat, of plain white flax with a tamko border, is much faded, but is of the very finest texture and a superlative example of native weaving.